Growing Pains
by DjinnFlint
Summary: Matthew's having a bit of trouble with training. What can Isaac do to help him along?


Another one, again feel free to review, but don't feel like you have to!

Enjoy!

* * *

"Argh!"

Matthew threw his hands up in exasperation as his Growth psynergy failed to make the vine grow up the cliff face. Five times he had tried, and five times he had failed. The last attempt had been doubly frustrating, as he had been mere inches from the ledge.

"Almost, try again."

Isaac's voice grated in Matthew's ears as he watched his father, one of the legendary warriors of Vale, use his Growth psynergy to shrink the vine to its original size. Matthew turned angrily towards his father. Could he not see that his son was struggling? Did he not understand that his son could do with a well-earned rest? Isaac had been putting Matthew through his paces all day, so it was only natural that he would be tired and weaker at the end of a gruelling fourteen hour training session. Isaac turned to face his son, his face calm and collected, as always. Matthew had never known anything to break his father's façade of peace and tranquillity, not even his boisterous friend Garet and his son Tyrell, Matthew's best friend.

"Your Growth psynergy is your strongest ability." Isaac explained patiently. "You should be able to wield it even when your reserves are dry. It may end up saving your life, or someone else's, one day." Isaac pointed to the vine. "Now, use Growth."

Matthew gave a resigned sigh as he turned to the cliff face, and focussed on the dreaded vine. It was just like his dad, using reason, logic, and rational thinking to make any of Matthew's complaints seem petty and inconsequential. Matthew raised his hand to point at the vine, and cast Growth. Nothing happened. Matthew's face screwed up in concentration and effort as he all but begged the vine to grow. The vine twitched, wriggled around for a few moments, and then fell still. Matthew's hand fell to his side in exhaustion and desperation. He had tried is hardest, he really had, but it hadn't been enough. Tears threatened to fall down his cheeks; failure was hard to take, especially when you live under the shadow of one who is regarded as one of the best adepts of all time.

A hand rested gently on his shoulder, and Matthew turned away from it so Isaac wouldn't see the tears.

"I think that's all for today. We'll try again tomorrow." Matthew nodded numbly as Isaac's gentle voice floated through his despair. As calming and relaxing Isaac's voice can be, Matthew was dreading the next day. How was one day of training going to improve his skills enough to Grow the vine? It seemed impossible to him. He turned as Isaac's hand gently steered him round and together they walked back to the lookout cabin in silence.

* * *

Tyrell waited at the cabin, eager for Isaac and Matthew to return. Tyrell had been out with his father all day, and he couldn't wait to show Matthew what he had learnt. It had taken Tyrell a lot longer than Matthew to master psynergy, but once he had, the skill gap began to shrink rapidly. As excited as Tyrell was about his progress, he was worried for his friend. Isaac pushed his son relentlessly. Not in a mean way, but he still wouldn't accept anything less than extraordinary from Matthew. Tyrell often wondered if Isaac realised that a disappointed parent is twenty times worse than an angry one. Matthew yearned for acceptance from his father, and it hurt him more and more every time he 'failed'. Tyrell snorted to himself. If he had been able to do half the stuff Matthew could do right now, in the two years they had been training, Tyrell would consider himself to be a pretty skilled adept.

Tyrell had once brought this issue up with his own father, Garet. The warrior of Vale had just shrugged.

"Isaac's a perfectionist, always has been, always will be." Garet had then warned is big-mouthed son not to talk to Matthew or Isaac about this. "They will not appreciate you nosing in on their personal relationship. They are both very proud people. Maybe too proud, but that's not the point. They'll sort it out on their own, you hear?"

Tyrell had nodded and spurted out some indignant response about his dad not trusting him, but all that did was give Garet an excuse to clip his son round the ear for being rude. Tyrell absent-mindedly rubbed the ear as he thought back to that conversation, two months ago. It had taken all of his will power not to speak of it in front of Isaac or Matthew, and still every now and then the urge came, and he found himself sprinting out of the room to stop it all coming out.

"Tyrell!" Garet's voice echoed through the cabin. "They're back!"

With an eager grin Tyrell leapt out of his chair and burst out of the cabin to see his best friend walk up to the cabin. Tyrell's smile faltered for a second as he saw the dejected look on Matthew's face, before bounding down the path to grab Matthew's arm.

"Matthew! Come see what I can do!" He yelled enthusiastically as he all but dragged his best friend back down the path and into the garden. Just past the far end of the garden straw dummies had been erected, at various heights and distances. It turned the area behind the garden into a target range, and Matthew, ever observant, figured out exactly what Tyrell had learnt: Fireball.

"So, can you guess what I've learnt?" Tyrell asked, pride in his voice. His smile fell slightly when he saw that Matthew already knew, but it wasn't about to stop him from giving a quick demonstration. "Just watch!"

Tyrell stood facing the straw dummies, his feet firmly planted shoulder width apart, and his hand clenched together outstretched in front of him. Aiming for the dummy furthest to the left, his face screwed up in concentration as fire began to build up around his clenched hands. Sweat dripped down in face, due as much to his concentration as to the heat of the flames. Once his hands were completely enveloped in fire, the flames suddenly flew from his hand, and struck the dummy square on the chest. A panting Tyrell turned to the slow clap of his best friend as Matthew applauded the effort. The dummy continued to burn, slowly dying out as the straw was consumed by flames. With an elaborate bow, Tyrell turned back to the dummies, and aimed casually at the next one.

"It's pretty easy." He said, nonchalantly. "Once you've done it once, it's quite simple to do again." Again the flames began to envelope Tyrell's hands, but this time they didn't stop growing. Panic flared in both the young adepts as a fireball twice the size of Tyrell's clenched fists shot out, cannoning into the dummy, and sending it careening into one posted behind it to the right. The two burning dummies flew over the fence and into the garden, setting fire to the crops that had been planted there.

"Matthew! Do something!" Tyrell yelled in panic as the two ran up to the garden. Matthew turned his head as they ran, and gave Tyrell a furious glare. What was he supposed to do? "Throw some earth on it or something, I don't know!" Tyrell continued to yell. Tyrell saw Matthew hesitate, fear and doubt creeping into his face. His face screwed up in determination, and he stretched is arms out in front of him, palms facing the flames. Tyrell watched as Matthew's whole body began to shake with effort, and he looked eagerly to the garden, expecting his friend to once more get him out of trouble.

Nothing happened.

"Nothing's happening!" Tyrell shrieked as he looked to his best friend. Matthew had stopped trying cast psynergy, and was just there on his knees, tears falling silently down his face. He had failed again.

"Tyrell!" An angry Garet stormed into the garden, and with a quick wave of his hand, channelled all the fire away from the garden, watching it fade into nothing. "What on earth happened? How in Sol did you manage to burn almost half of our crops! This means we're going to have to go on another trip to Patcher's Place, a lot sooner than planned."

Tyrell backed away fearfully. When he was angry, Garet seemed to grow in size, and Tyrell swore that sometimes his flame red hair would actually catch on fire. "It… it was an accident." Tyrell muttered fearfully. "I was just showing Matthew what you taught me today, and one got out of control, and then the dummy hit the fence, and then Matthew tried to stop it, but nothing happened…" Tyrell trailed off as Garet looked at Matthew, and the anger soon fled from his face, to be replaced by concern.

"Well, as long as you two are ok." He said gruffly. Tyrell could not believe his luck; he never usually got away with things like this! "Both of you come in and have some dinner. It's been a long day." Tyrell's face lit up at the mention of dinner, and he bounded into the cabin. Matthew rose more slowly, and walked numbly up to the cabin, as a concerned Garet brought up the rear.

* * *

Garet and Isaac sat in front of a log fire. Dinner had been eaten in silence, and as soon as it was finished, Matthew had slumped off to the room he and Tyrell shared. Without a moment's hesitation, Tyrell leapt off his chair and followed his best friend. Night had fallen, and when Garet was sure he had waited long enough for the two boys to go to sleep, he turned to his best friend.

"Isaac, I'm worried about Matthew."

Isaac looked at Garet, confused. "I don't know what you mean. He seems to be doing just fine."

Garet shook his head. "You should have seen him this evening then, when Tyrell set fire to the crops. I have never before seen such a distraught and defeated figure. It cuts deep every time he fails, or lets one of us down." Garet smiled at his friend. "He gets that from you, you know." He added.

"But he didn't fail, how can he expect to move earth with no psynergy? I've already told him that Growth is his strongest psynergy, and even then he would only be able to channel the smallest amounts with no psynergy in the tank."

"That's not the point Isaac. The point is that his friend called for help, and he couldn't do anything. In his eyes, that's a failure."

Isaac didn't reply. Instead, he sat in his chair, thinking about what Garet had said. Uncomfortable in the silence, Garet began speaking again.

"Maybe you should give him the day off tomorrow. Take him to Patcher's Place to gather more supplies. Sol knows we're going to need them now my idiot of a son burnt half of our crops."

"He gets that from you, you know." Isaac smirked.

Garet chuckled. "Yes, I suppose he does." He stopped laughing and turned seriously to face his friend. "Just take Matthew to Patcher's Place. Give him a rest. You've been pushing him hard for the two years we've been here. He needs a break. He's only fifteen, remember. He doesn't have the reserves we do."

Isaac nodded, but didn't say anything. With nothing left to say, Garet leant back into his chair and looked at the fire. Had he said too much? He hoped he hadn't. He liked to think that by now, he and Isaac had been through enough that the two could share anything.

"You're right." Isaac said suddenly, jerking Garet out of his thoughts. "Going to Patcher's Place is a good idea."

"Uh… it is?" Garet wasn't used to having good ideas. That was usually Isaac's or Ivan's thing.

"Sure it is. Matthew and I will leave straight after breakfast. Goodnight my friend." Isaac stood up and went to his room, leaving Garet very confused. Isaac wasn't the type to break with routine just because Garet had suggested it. What was he planning? Unfortunately, it appeared that Garet had used up his bright idea for the day, and so shrugged it off, and promptly forgot about it.

* * *

The next morning, Isaac and Matthew set off for Patcher's Place, leaving an extremely nervous Tyrell with an extremely irate Garet. "Right!" Garet barked. "The first thing you can do is clear the garden of the ashy mess you made yesterday. Get to it!" The last Matthew and Isaac saw before the cabin was out of site was Tyrell cringing as he began to sift through the destroyed garden.

"I hope Garet calms down." Isaac said with amusement. "His anger can be as dangerous as an erupting volcano." Matthew looked at his father in alarm, and Isaac chuckled. "Relax; I'm exaggerating… but only a little." Matthew shrugged despondently, and then faced the path again. Isaac sighed under his breath. Garet was right, by the looks of things. How had Isaac not noticed it? Isaac ignored the gnawing voice of doubt in his head. Today would sort everything out.

The way down the mountainside was uneventful; the narrow path easily traversed by the two Venus adepts. In a few hours they made safely to Patcher's Place. Many Valeans had decided to stay close to Mount Aleph, and Patcher's Inn/Shop was the perfect place to set up a new settlement. Isaac and Matthew were greeted with friendly smiles and waves as they entered the settlement. Patcher was just opening shop, and ushered them inside with a huge smile.

"Isaac! Matthew! Please come in! I wasn't expecting you for another month. What brings you down the mountain?" Isaac gave a brief description of yesterday's events, and Patcher chuckled. "Kids huh? What a nightmare, especially the ones with fire. At least it wasn't here!" Isaac raised a sceptical eyebrow as Patcher continued to laugh.

"Can you just prepare our usual batch please?"

Patcher stopped laughing, but couldn't stop smiling. "Sure thing Isaac, but it's going to take a while."

Isaac waved a hand dismissively. "That's fine, I wasn't going to come and collect for a few hours. I thought Matthew and myself could help with the construction of the psynergy training ground."

Matthew looked at his father in surprise. This hadn't been part of the plan, at least not the plan Isaac had told him. Isaac looked down at his son and smiled. "It will be easy stuff, don't worry." Matthew nodded, nerves already starting to creep through his thoughts. What if he messed up? It would be a lot worse, messing up in front of many people. At least at the cabin it was a three person audience at maximum. Isaac put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry! They'll just be happy for the help." Matthew took a deep breath and nodded again, more confident this time.

The day from there flew by, and Matthew had to admit that he had had a great day. As Isaac had said, it was easy stuff. A log Moved here or there, a vine Grown so that it tied logs together, and the odd fall or hammered thumb Healed. The toughest stuff had been creating the Retreat circles.

"This is pretty tough stuff." Isaac had explained. "Not many people know retreat. In fact, I only know of three people who have mastered the technique, and two of them are here." He smiled at his son. "So what we need to do is to lock the psynergy into these rings. That should turn them into Retreat Rings. They'll act the in same way the Catch Beads lets you cast Catch, giving the person touching them instant, yet temporary, knowledge on casting Retreat. You understand?" Matthew had nodded. "Good, because I'm going to need your help."

Most of the afternoon was dedicated to these Retreat Rings, and by the end, Matthew was all spent. "Whew! Now _that_ was work!" Isaac said with a tired grin. "I haven't channelled that much psynergy in a long time!" Matthew grinned back at his dad, glad that for once he wasn't being tested on his psynergy. "Okay, let's collect the supplies, and be on our way." Hauling himself off the ground, and then his son, Isaac led the way back to Patcher's Place.

"Ah Isaac, perfect timing!" Patcher said with a grin. "I've just finished gathering all your supplies together."

"That's great, Patcher. Thanks. The usual price?" Patcher nodded, and Isaac handed over the required coins.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you Isaac, it always is." Patcher gave the two adepts a wave as they left his shop.

Matthew was exhausted as they reached the narrow mountain path that led home. The day's activities had totally drained him, especially the Retreat Rings. He stumbled behind Isaac, not really paying attention to where they were going, or what they were doing. This all changed when Isaac fell.

Matthew had no idea what had happened. One moment his father was there walking in front of him, the next his father was ten feet below him, hands scrabbling for purchase on the cliff face. Fifteen feet below the path, he finally grabbed at a small rocky outcrop with his left hand. With a painful grimace he looked up to Matthew.

"Matthew! Help!"

Matthew looked around wildly, looking for something to throw down to help his father. But there was nothing. His pack was full of food supplies, there was no rope there. Panic began to set in as he continued to search blindly for anything that could help. Tears started to fall down his face as he thought that he might never see his father again.

"Matthew!" Isaac's voice, still firm and gentle, cut through his panic. "There's a small vine just to your left." Isaac pointed up with his right hand, and Matthew followed the direction of the finger. Indeed there was a small vine growing on the edge of the path. "Use Growth, and then I'll climb up the vine!" This started Matthew panicking again, as he knew what had happened last time he had tried Growth without psynergy. "You can do this Matthew. I know you can."

Isaac's voice did little to assuage Matthew's nerves, but he nodded and cast his hand in the direction of the vine.

Nothing happened.

Frustrated, he tried again, his face screwing up in anger and desperation.

Nothing happened.

Matthew sank to the ground, next to the vine, in despair. Why could he not Grow it?

"Matthew!" Isaac's voice still contained no fear. "Just relax. You can do this, have faith. Now try again."

Isaac's tone had taken on that learned tone he used when teaching Matthew a new technique, and so Matthew nodded numbly, before looking at the vine. Matthew slowly stretched out his hand, and placed it gently on the vine, gently feeling the life within it. He closed his eyes, trying to become one with the vine. His brow furrowed as he frowned in concentration. Then he tried Growth.

At first, there was nothing, and Matthew came close to giving up again, but then something in vine changed, and Matthew could feel a pull from within the plant, as if it were stretching. His eyes burst open in amazement as he watched the vine creep slowly down the cliff face towards his father.

"That's it!" Isaac yelled encouragingly as the vine crept ever closer. "Almost there! Keep it up!"

Sweat began to drip down from Matthew face as he struggled to keep the vine Growing. The pace of the vine began to slow, and at twelve feet, it halted. But Matthew hadn't come this far to fail this time. Not with his dad hanging by one hand above a colossal drop. His face screwed up one more time as he forced the vine to keep Growing. Thirteen feet, forteen… there! He had done it!

Isaac quickly grabbed hold of the vine and shimmied up to the path in no time. The moment he was standing, he was almost knocked off the path again, by Matthew slamming into him to give his father a great big hug. With a soft smile, Isaac returned the hug.

"Well done son," He said softly, "I knew you could do it. I am so proud of you."

Matthew buried his head deeper into his father's trenchcoat, to hide the tears that were falling. For a while they stood in silence, and Matthew began to wonder at how fortunate it was that a vine had been growing just where Isaac had fallen. Matthew squeezed Isaac harder, and smiled when his father responded in kind.

"Thanks Dad."

* * *

**Author's Note:** This whole psynergy use without any psynergy came about when I started re-playing Dark Dawn. It struck me that no adept is the same, even if they're from the same element. For example, Matthew starts off with Growth, while his father starts off with quake (that's going to need sourcing, but you see what I mean). And it occurred to me that this could be a 'preferred' psynergy, so to speak; a psynergy that can be cast when all else has failed. Anyway, I hope it doesn't take anything away from the story, or people's enjoyment of the story!

Also, if anyone has any ideas they would like me to write (if you've enjoyed what you've seen so far), please send my way, as ideas can be quite hard to come by.


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